Ram News: Ram Working On Mid-Size Pickup

[Drew Dowdell]

RAM sees a Dakota-sized hole in their lineup and FCA CEO Mike Manley says he wants that hole filled fast.  Part of the issue is that Ram currently does not have a platform to use for a mid-size pickup.  The Jeep Gladiator, while considered a mid-size, has a different mission in life. It is positioned, and priced, as a premium product with an MSRP starting over $33,000 where competitors like the Ranger and Colorado start in the mid-$20k range. 

Furthermore, the new product will not be built on the Gladiator platform, further increasing costs and development time. The current estimate is that the Dakota, if that's what it is called, will be introduced in the 2022 time frame.  That puts RAM rather late to market as Ford has recently released the Ranger, and a new Nissan Frontier is on the way, and even Mitsubishi is working on a truck. 

In the meantime, RAM plans to keep building the RAM 1500 classic for an extended period of time alongside the new 2020 RAM 1500 model. Fleet and commercial customers like the lower price of the RAM Classic and sales have remained brisk. 

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[Drew Dowdell]

you know... looking back, that final Dakota wasn't too bad looking. I wonder what they go for used. 

[Robert Hall]

Sales must of fallen off w/ the 3rd gen..I never see them around, either here or in Arizona...still see a rusty 2nd gen around here once in a while.

[riviera74]

RAM does need a midsize pickup.  They should reconsider NOT using the Gladiator platform, unless there is a serious cost issue.

[Drew Dowdell]

18 minutes ago, Robert Hall said:

Sales must of fallen off w/ the 3rd gen..I never see them around, either here or in Arizona...still see a rusty 2nd gen around here once in a while.

The third gen was really ugly until it got a refresh (pictured above) but that wasn't enough to save it. 

[smk4565]

Ran needs a midsize pickup and I could see room for a Promaster City based small truck.

[Robert Hall]

29 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

The third gen was really ugly until it got a refresh (pictured above) but that wasn't enough to save it. 

Yes, it was as ugly as the 2nd gen Durango.. 

To get something out quickly, they could just add a bed to the ProMaster cab and chassis version.    That would give them the only cab-forward pickup in the US market..

Edited May 7, 2019 by Robert Hall

[David]

Best looking Dakota was the 98 gen which matched the look of First Gen Durango.

The current Durango is a WinWin so just copy it and go or like Robert says us a Promaster City cab/chassis version and build a FWD pickup which would work too.

[Drew Dowdell]

2 minutes ago, dfelt said:

Best looking Dakota was the 98 gen which matched the look of First Gen Durango.

The current Durango is a WinWin so just copy it and go or like Robert says us a Promaster City cab/chassis version and build a FWD pickup which would work too.

The current Durango is a good looker, but I think it's on its way out. 

[ocnblu]

2022 is WAY late to market, but better late than never I guess.  They were slow to respond when the S-10 and Ranger revolutionized the pickup market with domestic compacts back in the early 80's, too.  I will have to read up on the first-gen Dakota's development to confirm that its platform was scratch-built and not simply a scaled down D100, but I think any new Ram midsize would need to match the competition in size, not exceed them.

[Robert Hall]

9 minutes ago, ocnblu said:

 I will have to read up on the first-gen Dakota's development to confirm that its platform was scratch-built and not simply a scaled down D100, but I think any new Ram midsize would need to match the competition in size, not exceed them.

The D-100 was pretty old by the mid 80s, but it sounds like they did use some components..per Wikipedia--To keep investment low, many components were shared with existing Chrysler products and the manufacturing plant was shared with the full-sized Dodge D-Model.

Wasn't the 3.9 V6 a 318 w/ two fewer cylinders?

I remember reading this article on Allpar once before, not a lot of detail, but an ok overview on the 1st gen

https://www.allpar.com/trucks/dakota-1987.html

Edited May 8, 2019 by Robert Hall

[ocnblu]

2 minutes ago, Robert Hall said:

Wasn't the 3.7 V6 a 318 w/ two fewer cylinders?

I don't remember reading that, but it is possible.  Would be cool to see this new truck powered by the rumored inline six FCA is working on, and a diesel of some sort of extraction.

Coincidentally, I wrote an estimate on an '05 Dakota today (in clean condition) and scheduled the work.

[garnermike]

I was a 1992, 1995, and 1998 Dakota buyer/owner, the first with the 3.9L V6, and those that followed having the 5.2L V8. I distinctly remember reading reports that the 3.9L's origin was a 5.2L (318ci) V8 block sans two cylinders.

It's a bit amazing to learn that Dodge got so far behind Chevy and Ford with development of its own new mid-size pick-up.  I believe that the new Ranger is going to be a solid seller in the truck class, so a 2022 debut of the new Dodge/Ram midsize is gonna leave it playing a big-time catch-up game, especially if the Colorado/Canyon gets a refresh in that time.

[Drew Dowdell]

57 minutes ago, garnermike said:

I was a 1992, 1995, and 1998 Dakota buyer/owner, the first with the 3.9L V6, and those that followed having the 5.2L V8. I distinctly remember reading reports that the 3.9L's origin was a 5.2L (318ci) V8 block sans two cylinders.

It's a bit amazing to learn that Dodge got so far behind Chevy and Ford with development of its own new mid-size pick-up.  I believe that the new Ranger is going to be a solid seller in the truck class, so a 2022 debut of the new Dodge/Ram midsize is gonna leave it playing a big-time catch-up game, especially if the Colorado/Canyon gets a refresh in that time.

I believe that those two are going to get a refresh very soon.